DAVOS, Switzerland, 26 January 2007 — The World Economic Forum’s slogan this year, the “shifting power equation” reflects the growing influence of emerging and transitional economies. They are elbowing their way into the world economy, diluting the influence of traditional Western industrialized powers and expecting more accountability from them.
Yesterday in her keynote opening speech German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that China and India should enjoy closer ties with the club of rich nations, and she pledged to seek agreement with the five emerging nations on a “new form of dialogue” with the G-8 at the group’s summit in July.
Merkel referred to the deadlock in global free trade talks, which is partly pitting the EU against developing and emerging nations. Only 15 years ago, objections from those nations about free trade would have been quickly swept aside by industrialized trading powers.
Sixty-six representatives of Indian business and politics are in Davos this year, including Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath, Industrial Development Minister Ashwani Kumar and Sunil Bharti Mittal, managing director of Indian telecom giant Bharti Enterprises.
Sunil Mittal underlined that India’s current 620 million people of working age would rise to 850 million within 10 years. “The world needs to adopt this talent, adopt this global pool because it’s responsible; it comes out of a democratic field,” he said.
Meanwhile, leaders from the emerging nations said their countries stand to suffer the worst effects of global warming and should not have to pay for a problem created mainly by the rich. They said they wanted the United States, European Union and others in the West to be more accountable for the heat-trapping emissions their cars and factories produce. They also asserted their right to stoke their own economies, even if greenhouse gas levels rise as a result.
“The US, the Europeans, the OECD countries have for the last 30 to 40 years contributed to greenhouse gases much more than us,” said Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto Ltd.
Bharti Enterprises’ Mittal said developing countries need incentives to react on climate change. “We, as a billion people, are going to be consuming a lot of services and goods that will create emissions. We will need technology; we will need money,” he said.
Ensuring that emissions-cutting technologies reach emerging giants, such as China and India, as well as poorer countries, is critical, he said, adding: “I think that rich countries should shoulder the bulk of that cost.”
